What do you lose with New Game Plus Elden Ring?

For the most part, new game plus is the same as your first playthrough outside of the difficulty and rune rewards scaling up. Story progression and item drops are identical to your first playthrough, everything has to be obtained again to move through the game. Here's a checklist of things to accomplish and grab before you initiate new game plus so that you can go into it as prepared as possible.

How to unlock Elden Ring's new game plus

How to unlock Elden Ring's new game plus

Elden Ring's new game plus is available to you as soon as you've killed the final boss (opens in new tab). Once you've landed your last blow on it, you'll have a chance to choose an ending (opens in new tab) and then the game will play a cutscene and roll credits. It will ask you if you'd like to immediately start new game plus or if you'd like to be kicked back out into the world with the option to start the mode at the table in Roundtable Hold.

Once you start new game plus, the game plays the intro cutscene and starts you back at the Church of Anticipation as if you were playing it for the first time. The only difference is that many of your items are still with you.

What do you lose with New Game Plus Elden Ring?
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Elden Ring guide (opens in new tab): Conquer the Lands Between
Elden Ring bosses (opens in new tab): How to beat them
Elden Ring map fragments (opens in new tab): Reveal the world
Elden Ring weapons (opens in new tab): Arm yourself
Elden Ring armor (opens in new tab): The best sets

Elden Ring new game plus checklist

What do you lose with New Game Plus Elden Ring?

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring new game plus checklist

Most items from your previous playthrough carry into new game plus. Key items that are tied to story progression, like two Great Runes collected from bosses, need to be picked up again, and Sites of Grace will need to be touched again, too. Otherwise, you have a great opportunity to squeeze the game dry before you restart. That way, you can have a ton of options for your build and path on your second run. Here's a checklist of everything you should make sure to do before entering new game plus. 

  • Find and buy all upgrade materials (opens in new tab) from vendors
  • Upgrade your weapons (opens in new tab) as much as possible
  • Give every Prayerbook and Scroll to vendors
  • Buy every incantation and spell (opens in new tab) from vendors
  • Collect every version of Glovewort (opens in new tab) from catacombs and vendors
  • Kill every dragon and obtain their Dragon Heart
  • Buy every Dragon Communion (opens in new tab) incantation 
  • Buy every item from every vendor 
  • Find and obtain every Larval Tear (opens in new tab)
  • Collect every Stonesword Key (opens in new tab)
  • Trade for every boss remembrance weapon (opens in new tab) (one copy of each weapon per playthrough)
  • Use all the Walking Mausoleums (opens in new tab)
  • Collect all cookbooks (opens in new tab)
  • Collect all Cracked Pots, Ritual Pots, Perfume Bottles, Memory Stones, and Talisman Pouches
  • Fully upgrade your flasks with Golden Seeds (opens in new tab)
  • Find all talismans (opens in new tab)
  • Find all tears for Flask of Wondrous Physick (opens in new tab)
  • Kill NPCs for armor (opens in new tab), if you want it

Items that carry over into Elden Ring's new game plus

(Image credit: Tyler C. / FromSoftware)

What carries over into Elden Ring's new game plus? 

Elden Ring is a massive game with hundreds of items. New game plus might seem like a risk if you're afraid of losing everything you spent hours gathering in the game. Here's exactly what does and doesn't carry over into new game plus. 

Elden Ring NG+ is the perfect way to experience the Lands Between all over again, but it comes with a few caveats.

Elden Ring players unlock the ability to go into New Game+ right after completing the main story. After defeating the Elden Beast and witnessing their ascension to the throne, players get teleported to the burning Roundtable Hold. Players can then initiate Elden Ring NG+ at any time by interacting with the central Site of Grace at the titular roundtable. Until then, they can continue exploring the world or finish up side quests.

Do I keep my weapons in Elden Ring NG+?

After activating NG+, players keep all their weapons, armor, sorceries, incantations, weapon upgrade materials, and spirit ashes. The only things they leave behind are quest items like Shabriri Grapes, keys, and so on. 

What do you lose with New Game Plus Elden Ring?

The biggest change is to enemy stats, which greatly increase with each iteration of NG+. All enemies including bosses have higher health and deal more damage. This is meant to give players a challenge, but their actual attack animations and combos stay the same. Elden Ring’s New Game+ is fairly easy in the early game, but the difficulty ramps up over time, especially with the final boss gauntlet.

How does Elden Ring multiplayer work in NG+?

Elden Ring players in NG+ can still completely interact with normal players as long as all other prerequisites are met.

For cooperative play, Elden Ring NG+ players are completely compatible with first-run players. Summoning pools work the exact same way, and NG+ characters can be summoned to take on new game bosses with no changes. The same is true for password-based summoning.

Competitive multiplayer is also the same. Players on NG+ can invade first-game players the exact same way as normal. New Game+ characters tend to have much higher levels, so the available pool of victims is much smaller. NG+ characters should try to invade at later stages of the game like Mountaintop of the Giants and the Haligtree to find more players to interact with.

Does Elden Ring New Game+ have new items and weapons?

Elden Ring does not have any new content locked to NG+. All weapons, armors, and talismans are available in the first run of the game

Many talismans such as the Erdtree’s Favor and Crimson Amber Medallion have upgraded versions up to +2. In some FromSoftware games before Elden Ring, upgraded rings were locked to New Game+ as an incentive for players to keep the adventure going. Elden Ring puts all upgraded rings in the first run, which is probably meant to help players get the Legendary Talismans achievement.

What do you lose with New Game Plus Elden Ring?

The same is true for other items as well. All spells and weapons are available in the base version of the Lands Between. Though available in the base game, Elden Ring NG+ is a great way to get additional Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones and their Somber equivalents. Only 13 normal ones and eight Somber ones exist in a single run.